The Console lead has four female connections that can be plugged directly onto the GPIO header of the Raspberry Pi.

The Adafruit USB console cable has 3.3V logic, so its safe to use with your Pi.

Attach the leads as shown below:

The connections are to the outside pin connections of the GPIO header. See Lesson 4, for more information about the header: http://learn.adafruit.com/adafruits-raspberry-pi-lesson-4-gpio-setup/the-gpio-connector

  • The red lead should be connected to 5V if you want to power via the cable, see below for details
  • The black lead to GND (3rd pin down)
  • The white lead to TXD on the Pi (4th pin down)
  • The green lead to RXD on the pI (5th pin down)

Powering Via Cable

Here's a photo showing an older Pi and also powering it via USB. Pi 2 or later are not suggested for this technique as they draw over 500mA

The important thing here is to only power it from one source, the USB power adaptor or the Console Lead BUT NOT BOTH. Unless you have a Pi A+ or Pi Zero, don't connect the red wire!

If you do decide to power the Pi from the console cable, DO NOT attach the Pi's USB power adapter. If you would rather power the Pi from your USB power adapter then leave the Red lead from the Serial lead un attached.

OK now power up your Raspberry Pi!

This guide was first published on Dec 18, 2012. It was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

This page (Connect the Lead) was last updated on Dec 18, 2012.

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